Extra weight isn't necessarily a good thing. But it isn't necessarily a bad thing either. Extra weight is good if your pulling alot of weight, or if you need traction on hard ground, such as a tractor. Excess weight in mud is not an advantage. Or when climbing especially nasty hills. Excess weight does a whole lot of damage to your quad when you flip or go rolling down a hill. Not to mention the extra injury it has the potential to cause to the rider. More weight means more wear and tear. Heavier quads wear tires out faster. Heavy quads are ALOT harder to manuver down a trail at warp speed! I know how that feels! More weight requires more power to move it. More power generally requires a larger engine, which means more weight! Its kind of a synergistic effect. Finally, weight and quality of construction have absolutely nothing to do with each other!

Rick

 

I think all Polraris Utility are large even the 325s and 250s look like they have the same seat as the 500s do.

 

01 Grizzly, that is one great post!

 

The reason Polaris quads are so heavy is because the frames are designed by the Lawnboy company. Have you ever noticed the simularities between a lawn tractor and a Polaris quad? Also Polaris believes in the more parts the better concept. That is why the two stoke motors use seperate transmissions. If you can increase the amount of parts you can increase the amount of money you make at the parts service counter.

 

One more dumb comment. I read an ATV shootout between the 325 Magnum vs. the Prarie 300 in one magazine or another. I think it was 4-wheel ATV Action, but am not sure. According to the Manufacturers' specs, the Magnum should have been 30 pounds heavier. When they filled them with gas & oil, the Magnum was actually a pound or two lighter. The Magnum weighed right at what the mfg. spec was, the Kawi was heavier. I wonder if the Japanese machines are weighed 'dry', with no battery, oil, or gas, while Polaris weighs theirs ready to roll. If this is true, Polaris machines may not be as much heavier as they seem at first glance.
I know my Xplorer 400 is supposed to be 90 pounds heavier than the 300 Honda, but I have yet to find anyone who can tell me which one is heavier by lifting one end of it off the ground. The Honda feels lighter in front, but heavier in back, but barely enough to tell.

 

Chub, I think your head is full of lawnboy mower clippings. That or sailboat fuel....

 

Chub's got a lot of bilge water as well...
Polaris uses mild steel square tube to build their frames where as the other mfg's seem to be using round tube ( either mild steel or chro-moly ). The mild steel square tube is easier to use in manufacturing a frame, has better fatigue strength, and does not require stress relieving heat treatment after the welding is complete.

 

My memory may be incorrect but I think I read in some magazine that dry weight is DRY no oil, water, gas or even fluid in the shocks.

98 Scrambler 500
00 Trailblazer 250

 

On a previous post entitled heavy ho, a stock spho tipped the scales at 754lbs with all fluids topped off. Their claimed dry weight is 697lbs. I would think that with the gas,oils and coolant that, that weight is pretty accurate.